This morning I read Catie's update from yesterday, about how she dreamed an idea for some cards she loves, and I like that, because this weekend I got an idea I love when I was just starting to wake up from a dream. I'd been thinking that someday I'd paint the periodic table of the elements on the wall in our kitchen, but when I was waking up I saw a quilt that was the periodic table and now I really want to make that quilt, because I think that would be at least as fun as having it on the wall, and probably more fun. I added the quilt to my master To-Do list, which by the way, is having things crossed off it much more frequently nowadays.

What we did this weekend:

1) Francisco took the old railings off the deck and put new ones on (Sharky helped--he didn't want to, but then he sort of got into the manliness of it). Before he re-railed the thing, he rented a power-washer and washed it, plus the rest of the house and driveway and etc. Things are very clean. We're going to paint the deck white but need to wait until drier weather--it stormed last night.

2) Remember the Immortality Project? Max doesn't, so it makes me wonder if I only dreamed I had talked about it in my diary. That's entirely possible, but let's assume for now that I Have talked about it. I put my message into the plastic bubbles and sealed them up with clear silicon gel, and they're ready to bury:

3) We went to Target yesterday morning and got some containers for organizing, plus I got a couple of shirts and we got an electric kettle. The beloved hot pot we've been using lost its seal and gave up the ghost, and since new ones are about $80 at the cheapest, we thought we'd give a $35 electric kettle a try. So far so good.

4) I found out on Saturday that the Argus, which I had loaded with film and which seemed to be working perfectly, doesn't want to advance the film. It advanced it for about 4 photos, but then it wasn't really winding, so I opened it up and saw it was tearing the film. It's like the gear things are having to exert so much force to wind the film that they're ripping through the little tabs. I'm going to buy an eyeglass repair kit (for the tiny tools) and take the damn thing apart so I can lubricate the uptake reel, on the theory that if it turns more smoothly there won't be any more tearing. I've never taken a camera apart before, but if I do it real slow and careful-like, and use the digital camera to take pictures the whole way, I think I'll be able to get it put back together correctly. And I've got nothing to lose by trying, right? Look how cute the Argus is--isn't it worth trying to fix?:

5) Princess the cat discovered our back deck, and immediately commenced begging for treats there. Here he is in mid-beg:

Here is his shadow on the window screen, as he was haunting our every move:

6) I didn't work on Francisco's sweater this weekend, but this morning I read over the instructions for finishing it, and holy crap, I understood them! I'd been trusting my brain to figure out what to do next, but I'd been a little worried at the same time that I wouldn't be able to understand the instructions, so I'd been procrastinating the sweater, AGAIN. I'm going to finish that thing up lickety split, just in time for spring weather. It's 78 degrees here today--who Wouldn't want to wear a wool sweater? Please note I am being sarcastic. But for real, the next sweater I make is going to go so fast, because I'll want to use the same basic method (different stitch pattern though), and I'll know exactly what I'm doing. The prospect of this pleases me.

Do you know, this morning when I got to work I needed to do something online that requires me to sign in using information that includes my social security number, and I COULDN'T REMEMBER IT. It's a number I've known by heart for my entire adult life but suddenly I could Not recall it, though I had no trouble remembering Francisco's ssn. I had to call him and ask him to tell me mine and have him reassure me I wasn't having a stroke. Work was sickeningly busy this morning; I guess people were waiting all weekend for our office to open so they could call us, and I knew it would be busier so I tried to psych myself up for it, but I guess I didn't do enough pre-work psyching.

This afternoon I gave my boss my letter of resignation, and it made me feel very unsettled for about an hour afterwards. It's been years and years since I changed jobs, so I guess that's why it made me feel weird, but I definitely didn't expect that. Anyway, it's done now and he's going to call a short meeting in a couple of days so I can announce my leaving. I told him it wasn't necessary, especially since this is such a busy time, but he wants to do that, so okay. Last Friday night I actually got very sad about moving (I blame the cocktail I was drinking), because I realized I wasn't going to hear any southern accents in Washington. I'm rather attached to southern accents, so I think I'm going to have to talk southern one day a week. Maybe on Tuesdays.

Oh, I almost forgot, I called my parents yesterday to apologize to them for all the time I got annoyed when I was a teenager because they couldn't understand when I mumbled, and my dad said he wants to give me his Canon (film camera) that he's not using. It's got all sorts of lenses and filters and gadgety things, and I'm excited to use it, but I made him promise that if he misses it and wants it back, he'll tell me. He's going to give it to me this summer after we've moved, rather than mail it out here, which is just fine with me. So if I can't get the Argus film advance working, I will at least be comforted by the prospect of having a super good camera waiting for me out west.

I'm going home now to take a walk with Francisco. I hope you have a good night!